A man who refused to make a compensation claim for a whiplash injury because he felt it was dishonest is being chased for payment by the lawyers who were to act on his behalf. Andrew Hopper has been told that he could be faced with court action and debt collectors if he does not pay £1,100 to the Blackpool solicitor firm Roland Robinsons and Fentons for their services in relation to the claim which was already started. Mr Hopper was involved in a minor accident in 2010 which left him with a sore neck, but it lasted only a short time. Soon after he started receiving calls from a claims management company offering to take on his case for personal injury. After a few calls Mr Hopper eventually relented after being told he could have £3,000. The claims process was started as a no win no fee claim, however when Mr Hopper was asked to visit a doctor to confirm his injury, he felt he could not go through with the lie. Mr Hopper is hoping he can avoid having to pay the firm by claiming he was subject to mis-selling by the claims firm, he has even contacted the legal ombudsman for advice. However he signed a contract which legally bound him to pay for the service.

A group of Scottish MPs is calling for compensation payments to be made to energy customers who living in the remote areas of the Highlands and Islands because they are subject to power cuts during extreme weather. In all other parts of the UK, householders can claim compensation if they are without power for an extended period of time. The Scottish Affairs Committee has said that this is unacceptable. Last winter many homes in the area were without power for more than three days. SSE offered to pay the householders a small amount as compensation, but they were not obligated to do so. The amounts which are legally required to be paid are just £25 per 24 or 28 hour power cut and £25 for each additional 12 hour period. The Committee say that this is not enough and ask that it should be made compulsory to pay compensation to Scottish rural areas. It has also been pointed out that energy costs in Scotland a due to rise as SSE increase their prices.

The breakdown service Brittania Rescue has revealed that councils in the UK paid out almost £5 million in compensation to drivers who drove over potholes since 2010. The average repair bill was £132 which is more than the repair costs associated with fixing potholes. It costs around £50 to repair a pothole according to the insurer. The survey also found that one in eight drivers had suffered car damage due to potholes and three quarters felt that road surfaces are in a poorer state than they were five years ago. Peter Herton from Brittania says that local authorities are facing harsh choices when it comes to where they spend their money. Paul Watters from the AA agrees that the situation is serious with decades of neglect leading to roads which are past their sell by date. The government gave councils an emergency fund of £200m last year, but this has made little impact.

Citigroup has claimed that the commission offered by Nasdaq for firms affected by their loss of service on the day Facebook floated could be described as gross negligence. Citigroup has sent a letter to the US Securities and Exchange Commissions suggesting that Nasdaq should not have immunity from compensating all losses which are expected to top £316 million. Currently Nasdaq only has to offer compensation to a limit of £1.9 million each month. Citigroup say that Nasdaq failed to carry out its duties when the floatation of Facebook was affected by 30 minute delays due to system errors. Another company which was affected, UBS, has also recently stated that Nasdaq should have closed trading or not opened Facebook for trading that day once they knew something was wrong. Nasdaq have pointed out that they are not obligated to offer compensation and that the $40 million (US) they have offered will cover certain types of transactions only and firms which accept payments will lose the right to sue Nasdaq for further losses.